The Man Who Isn’t Here

That’s huge. After all, the D conference was the only non-Apple event where the late Apple CEO deigned to appear. He was on stage for six of the previous nine iterations, including a legendary co-appearance with Bill Gates in 2007. You can even argue that this is the conference that Steve built: A key reason that the then-unfamiliar contender for the hotly competitive conference dollar became a must-attend event was the announcement of Jobs’ presence. True, Bill Gates was a fantastic get—but Jobs was the Holy Grail of speakers. Getting both was like hitting the daily double at long-shot odds. And Jobs’ regular appearances made D special.

So it’s no wonder that his ghost haunts the proceedings.

Mossberg and Swisher haven’t planned it this way—they scheduled a single tribute session in the middle of the three-day event, where Jobs’ close friend Larry Ellison and Pixar president Ed Catmull would share their remembrances of the late visionary. But it seems that almost every session has some reminder of the man who isn’t here.